Americas
Overland AI has added its autonomous technology to the US Army’s SMET (Small Multipurpose Equipment Transport) vehicle, made by General Dynamics. The vehicle was upgraded with Overland AI’s OverDrive software, SPARK hardware, and OverWatch control system, allowing it to drive itself. The upgraded vehicle was tested over two weeks during Project Convergence Capstone 5, an important Army event for trying out new technologies.
RTX has been approved to start limited production of the US Army’s new radar system, called the Lower Tier Air and Missile Defense Sensor (LTAMDS). This new radar will replace the old Patriot radar, which has been in use since the 1980s. LTAMDS can scan in all directions (360 degrees) and passed eight flight tests. It also reached “Milestone C,” meaning it’s ready for production and deployment. RTX has been working on this project since 2019. Normally, projects like this take over 10 years to reach production. But the Army used a special fast-track process from Congress to speed things up and get this modern radar out sooner to deal with new threats.
Middle East & Africa
The Israeli Army has rolled out a new remote-controlled engineering vehicle said to transform the “paradigm of war” in Gaza. A robotic version of the D9 bulldozer, the “Robdozer” is designed to carry out frontline tasks like clearing roads, removing rubble, and leveling terrain — all without exposing operators to danger. It also enables troops to carry out other essential engineering operations without physically entering hostile territory.
Europe
Lithuania’s capital Vilnius presented Wednesday an evacuation plan in case of war, as the Baltic nation worries Russia could target the former Soviet republic next after its invasion of Ukraine. Lithuania, a NATO and EU member, has been a staunch ally of Ukraine since Moscow’s 2022 invasion, and has since ramped up defense spending and training. The three main evacuation routes run west, “as the enemy has historically come from the east”, Vilnius’s Mayor Valdas Benkunskas said at a press conference.
Asia-Pacific
The US military will deploy Northrop Grumman MQ-4C Triton high-altitude long endurance unmanned aerial vehicle (HALE UAVs) from Kadena Air Base in the southern Japanese prefecture of Okinawa for “an indefinite period”, the Japan Ministry of Defense (MoD) announced on 8 April. Japanese defence minister Gen Nakatani noted at a media conference in Tokyo that the Triton UAVs are expected to commence surveillance and information gathering operations “within a few weeks”. The announcement had, however, prompted protests from Okinawan authorities.